Since this weekend, in Querétaro, modifications to the state Penal Code came into force to prohibit treatments, therapies, services, efforts or actions to repress the free development of personality with respect to gender identity and sexual orientation, also known as “conversion therapies.”
This after the publication, in the 70th edition of the newspaper La Sombra de Arteaga, of the reform approved by the Legislative Branch on June 29.
Starting this Saturday, September 9, anyone who commits this type of action will be subject to a penalty ranging from 2 to 6 years in prison, a fine of 250 to 2,000 times the value of the UMA, that is, from 25 1,935 to 207,480 pesos, and from 50 to 100 hours of work in favor of the community.
“It is understood as treatments, therapies, services, efforts or those actions, whatever their name, consisting of psychological, psychiatric sessions, methods or treatment that have the objective of nullifying, hindering, repressing or undermining gender expression or identity, as well as such as a person’s sexual orientation,” the document states.
As they are practices in which physical, moral or psycho-emotional violence is used through cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that violates human dignity, it is also aggravated when applied against children, adolescents or “people who do not have the capacity to understand the meaning of the fact or person who does not have the capacity to resist the behavior”, and in these cases the penalties will be increased by up to half and will be prosecuted as officio, that is, it would reach a maximum penalty of 9 years in prison and fines of up to 311 one thousand 220 pesos.
Likewise, it is noted that “when these practices are carried out through a legal entity, the person or persons who authorize and/or carry them out on its behalf will be criminally responsible.”
Civil organizations such as the Querétaro Front for the Right to Non-Discrimination and the Secular State, Caifaj, Yaaj México, celebrated this advance, which, more than 70 days after its approval, favors children and adolescents of sexual diversity.
According to the national monitor, more than 16 entities have made progress in prohibiting this, while Durango and Chiapas are the only states where the issue has not been opened.
According to INEGI, in the National Survey on Sexual and Gender Diversity (ENDISEG) 2021, it was recorded that one in every 20 people identifies as LGBTI+ in Mexico, so it is estimated that 5.1% of the Mexican population of 15 years or older is part of sexual diversity, while in Querétaro 8.2% of the population in Querétaro identifies as LGBTI+, an estimated 153,753 people.
Source: Publimetro
